Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of increasing the childcare tax free cap.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Tax-Free Childcare provides financial support for working parents with their childcare costs. For every £8 parents pay into their childcare account, the Government adds £2 up to a maximum of £2,000 in top up per year for each child up to age 11 and up to £4,000 per disabled child until they’re 17.
The Government recognizes the importance of supporting parents with the costs of childcare and continues to support families with a range of other childcare offers, including the free hours offer, and support through Universal Credit childcare.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what capital projects supporting shared and integrated education have been agreed between the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive between 3 February and 24 February 2024.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The release of UK Government capital funding to support shared and integrated education and housing is subject to individual projects being agreed between the Northern Ireland Executive and the UK Government.
HM Treasury continues to work with the Northern Ireland Executive on such projects.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will increase the value of draught relief to 20% for qualifying beer and cider products in the spring Budget 2024.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Draught Relief, introduced under the new alcohol duty system, provides a reduction in the duty on draught beer and cider by 9.2% and helps to level the playing field between pubs and supermarkets, allowing pubs and brewers to price their on-trade products more competitively. The Brexit Pubs Guarantee ensures that draught products will always be subject to lower duty than their supermarket equivalent.
The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the recent reforms and will evaluate the impact of the new rates and structures three years after the changes took effect on 1 August 2023. This will allow time to understand the impacts on the alcohol market, and for HMRC to gather useful and accurate data with which to evaluate the effects of the reform.
The Government is unable to speculate on tax matters outside of fiscal events. As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review during its yearly Budget process.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to raise the personal allowance threshold in the forthcoming Budget.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to keeping taxes low to support people to keep more of what they earn. However, the Government must also ensure the UK’s economic stability and provide confidence in the commitment to fiscal discipline. The Chancellor has made clear that the UK’s public finances must be on a sustainable path into the medium term.
As with all aspects of the tax system, the Government will keep the Personal Allowance under review and any decisions on future changes will be taken by the Chancellor in the context of the wider public finances.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of reducing VAT for the hospitality industry.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Since the start of the pandemic, over £37 billion has been provided to the tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors in the form of grants, loans and tax breaks.
The Government announced a package of business rates support at Autumn Statement 2022 which means businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, including pubs, will receive a tax cut worth over £2 billion in 2023-24. The UK also has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU Member State and the second highest in the OECD, which keeps most businesses out of the VAT system altogether.
VAT is the UK's third largest tax forecast to raise £161 billion in 2023/24, helping to fund key spending priorities such as important public services, including the NHS, education and defence. The previous VAT relief for tourism and hospitality cost over £8 billion and reintroducing it would come at a significant further cost.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing VAT to 10% in the hair and beauty sector.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services, including in the hair and beauty sector. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited by both legal and fiscal considerations.
The government recognises that accounting for VAT can be a burden on small businesses, particularly in sectors such as hair and beauty which involve selling directly to the final consumer. This is why, at £85,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU Member State and the second highest in the OECD. This keeps the majority of UK businesses out of VAT altogether.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will provide compensation for self-invested personal pension holders affected by Hartley Pensions entering administration.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is aware of the situation regarding Hartley Pensions, and we offer our sympathy to the customers affected. The FCA is responsible for regulating firms that provide self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) and are working to ensure the best outcome for Hartley customers. SIPP providers must also comply with the relevant rules overseen by HMRC. Unfortunately, the Government cannot comment on any issues relating to an ongoing administration or court case.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has had recent discussions with the FCA on the effectiveness of its consumer duty in upholding standards of financial services for customers.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to ensuring the UK has world-leading levels of regulatory operational effectiveness and to ensuring that consumers of financial services have appropriate protections in place. The Consumer Duty aims to ensure that firms act to deliver good outcomes and seeks to set a higher and clearer standard of care that firms owe their customers.
Treasury ministers meet regularly with the FCA to discuss a range of topics including the Consumer Duty.
With any new policy intervention, it is appropriate to consider how effective it has been in meeting its objectives, once such an assessment can be made. The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 introduced a new requirement on the financial services regulators to keep their rules under review, and to publish a statement of policy for how they conduct rule reviews. The FCA’s rule review framework can be found at https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/corporate-documents/our-rule-review-framework.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to provide additional funding to the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland to help address RAAC in schools.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Education is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland.
Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the feasibility of increasing the earnings threshold for eligibility for tax free childcare.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The £100,000 per parent per annum earnings threshold in Tax-Free Childcare was set because the Government believes it strikes the right balance between helping parents with their childcare costs, and managing the public finances in a responsible way.